`SMART SPRINKLERS' ON THE WAY FOR SCV RESIDENTS COULD SAVE, CONSERVE WATER THROUGH HIGH-TECH SYSTEM.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Watering the lawn could soon become more high-tech and involve less guesswork after the Santa Clarita Valley's water supplier installs an electronic system that helps conserve water.

Residents could tap into the advanced weather station's data on the Internet, and the information will be beamed to ``smart sprinklers,'' which irrigate precisely based on need.

``From August to October ... people will use 20 (percent) to 25 percent more water than plants require because people think it's hotter and that plants require more water,'' said Tom Hawes, water conservation program coordinator for the Castaic Lake Water Agency. ``(And) another 10 minutes on your sprinklers' timer is usually the equivalent of five to six showers -- even teenage showers.''

For people with an average of 2,500 square feet of landscaping, that could be 72,000 gallons of water a year and annual savings of about $50. After a power outage, the smart timers revert to the specially designed programs, the others water 10 minutes a cycle.

Sensors measure air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and sunlight, and the information is processed and relayed to stations in dozens of cities statewide.

Santa Clarita's station, which should be activated within a month, will inform people how often and how long to water each day. People who follow the recommendations could save at least 30 percent of the water they sprinkle on their lawns and gardens each year, Hawes said.

The data also guide farmers watering crops, schools with athletic fields, cities with parks and greenbelts, golf courses, cemeteries, and firefighters who ignite controlled burns, said Kent Frame, manager of the California Irrigation Management Information System for the state Department of Water Resources.

Timers in smart sprinklers measure how much water is lost from the soil through evaporation and during photosynthesis, and combine that information with data from the CIMIS system to make sure each watering cycle is timed just right.

In a six-month pilot program conducted by the Newhall County Water District through March, 19 participants who used the weather-based timers saved 776,000 gallons of water. Since the NCWD established a rebate program for customers who upgrade to the timers -- which can cost from $200 to $700 -- only 10 of its 9,200 customers have taken part. The rebate is a maximum of $240 per home, but the utility might try to boost participation by refunding the total cost of the controller, Cole said.

For the past year, the utility has required developers to install the weather-based controllers in landscape medians, Cole said. Studies show that runoff is reduced by 71 percent when the devices are installed.

In 2007, the Valencia Water Company will offer rebates for customers who replace their existing timers with smart controllers and participate in a water-efficiency survey. The details are in flux, but rebates will be more than $100, and offered to a limited number of its 28,000 customers, said Greg Milleman, vice president of administration for the utility.

The utility will supply water to the 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project, planned for west of the city and sprawling to the Ventura County line. Milleman said the utility will encourage developers to use cost-effective conservation measures -- including smart timers -- to reduce water consumption by 10 percent per capita.

The Public Policy Institute of California says outdoor water use will contribute heavily to the state's rising demand for water over the next 25 years. Its recent study showed that single-family homes often use twice as much water as condominiums or apartments, and that the average inland home uses two or three times as much water as homes on the coast.

The Santa Clarita Valley's population of about 250,000 is expected to grow to more than 425,000 by 2025. Ellen Hanak, an institute research fellow and author of the study, suggests planting a lawn where it will be used, rather than just for looks, and bordering yards and medians with native plants.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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(color) A CIMIS weather station at the Rio Vista water conservation garden is shown. CIMIS' new high-tech system could help residents and others save both money and water.

David Crane/Staff Photographer